A Canberra Stadium-record 28,753 fans packed the stands in 2004 when the Brumbies beat the Crusaders in the Super Rugby final at Canberra Stadium.

The city was decked in blue and gold, the only ticket in town as the community took ownership of their team.

Back then the side was littered with legends like George Gregan, Stephen Larkham, Matt Giteau and Joe Roff.

The Wallabies were in the midst of one of their most successful eras. They were winning, and the crowds responded.

The Brumbies circa-2013 has less household names, a lower profile bunch who have embraced Jake White’s no-nonsense culture.

And yes, this isn’t a grand final, and the South African sides are traditional poor drawers in Canberra. But surely they deserve far more support than they’re receiving?

This year they have scored 11 more tries than Queensland, regarded as one of the competition’s most attractive attacking teams, in winning the Australian conference title.

They average 28 points a game and comprise a back-line brimming with young, game-breaking talent.

Last year 24,450 fans watched the Raiders beat the Sharks 34-16 in a cut-throat final at Canberra Stadium.

They won eight of their last ten matches to earn a home semi. Plenty of fans who had given up hope a couple of months earlier were caught up in the euphoria of their fairy tale run.

The Brumbies run to the finals this year has been less dramatic. They’ve been flying high all season, and haven’t needed a backs-to-the-wall revival which had the city wrapped in ‘Green Machine’ fever in 2012.

Are the Brumbies suffering from a fan ‘let-down’ after the excitement surround the Wallabies-Lions series?

Last week’s poor loss to Western Force was their first Super Rugby game in a month. Supporters may be struggling to re-focus on club football, a let-down of sorts.

Rugby is also suffering from a perception amongst the wider community it’s ‘boring’. The non-hardcore fans, or fly-by-nighters, bemoan the penalty goal shoot-outs some games become, the constant stoppages in play and repacked scrums.

But the Brumbies have qualified for their biggest game in nearly a decade by playing attacking, running rugby.

There’s also plenty of sub-plots within this Brumbies side which should translate to bums on seats.

There’s Jesse Mogg, a newly-capped Wallaby plucked from obscurity playing in the local competition just last year.

There’s club legend George Smith, who is preparing for his likely Canberra Stadium swansong. There’s Clyde Rathbone, who made a comeback this year after retiring through injury in 2009, and a subsequent depression battle.

Yes, single figure maxiumum temperatures are tipped for Canberra on Sunday.

But after restoring itself as a Super Rugby heavyweight after years of hardship, the Brumbies don’t deserve to run out in a half empty stadium.

It’s time to rug up, rediscover our tribalism and, unofficially, put ‘ACT’ back into the Brumbies.

15 comments so far

I'd wager it's because the fans have read and heard the comments of Bonehead McIntyre over the past few years and have given up. Why should the average punter hand over their hard-earned to a supposedly professional sporting organisation that is more than happy with middle-of-the-road? These "fairy tale" runs to the finals lose their magic after a few. The fans want some real success.

Can't speak to the Brumbies, though.

Commenter

Faethor Ferenczy

Location

The dusty, empty trophy cabinet at QLC

Date and time

July 19, 2013, 2:54PM

Much the same for Brumbies management and board. The players and coach are getting better, the board is on the gravy train.

Commenter

Knob-kerry

Date and time

July 19, 2013, 4:56PM

Where do you start?

Perhaps it's because the Canberra stadium operators go out of their way to ensure that no atmosphere is allowed.

The UC band have been a breath of fresh air at the inner bowl areas, but everytime the UC band plays music, it is deliberately drowned out by the stadium PA. Why not pipe the band through the PA instead? At least it is something that is genuine, instead of the artificial, and inappropriate American dribble coming through the PA. How about giving them a dedicated on-ground patch in which to cheer the crowd on?

Inner bowl tickets could be cheaper. Much cheaper. They are undeniably the worst seats in Australia, yet adults have to dish out $25 for it?

Access to the stadium could be better. Its annoying when you have to crawl in traffic for an hour, even on a bus. It is so hard to get in and out of.

Yes, it's Fox Sports. Why go to the game and spend a fortune on food and drinks when I'm already paying to watch it at home? Plus, look at the scheduling - a Sunday evening final on one of the coldest weekends of the year!? Plus, I was a Brumbies member back in about 2007 - the atmosphere is non-existent because the stadium's so open and exposed. You had to keep your voice down so the rest of the crowd didn't eavesdrop on your conversation!

Commenter

James

Location

CBR

Date and time

July 19, 2013, 3:37PM

I was going to comment as I thought this article was about football, oh one comment, $26mil for a loser interstate AFL team.

Commenter

SHUT UP, I'M INTERUPTING

Date and time

July 19, 2013, 3:58PM

In places like Canberra a stadium with a retractable roof is a must for the colder months. They need to stop all the talk about building one on the civic pool site and get it done. This would also provide a much needed boost to the cities clubs, pubs, restaurants and other businesses. All the best sporting arenas are in the heart of their cities!

Commenter

Pete

Date and time

July 19, 2013, 4:27PM

Let's just get an AFL or soccer team so we can get tribal about proper footy instead of biffo!

Commenter

bombers fan

Date and time

July 19, 2013, 5:07PM

Proper football and you cite AFL. You must have been lobotimised as soon as you dropped out the womb.

Commenter

YS

Date and time

July 19, 2013, 9:35PM

Brumbies members hold about 13,000 tickets. If members wanted their own seats for the final they had to be purchased before we knew which weekend they were playing, let alone which day or time. The reasons supposedly were to provide a longer exclusive sale period for Brumbies members (One week v two days) and maximize the chances of a capacity crowd at Canberra Stadium. The response, with only about 8,000 tickets pre-sold before general release, shows that Fagan got this wrong big time. Rather than 13,000 tickets already being pre-sold, the significantly smaller number meant no hype or rush was created.

Also once Brumbies members give up their own seats, they're not going to purchase inferior seats at a later date. So Fagan also managed to alienate a significant number of their core support by this decision and don't be surprised if member sales are down next year.

Finally, as a good a job as Jake White has done, winning alone is not enough to build support in a competitive market, a more attacking style will need to evolve.

Commenter

Stevie T

Date and time

July 19, 2013, 6:45PM

Ticket prices are simply extortion. I'm a season ticket holder for the Raiders, so I'm not affected, but plenty of my friends who did go to games on a semi-regular basis will not even contemplate it now.

20 Jul
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